Prison Conditions in Argentina

In Argentina, the worst prison systems are in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Mendoza.  The prisons themselves are in horrible condition, and the prisoners are treated inhumanely.  The living condition and treatment go against the constitutions of the provinces and the nation, yet little is done to fix the issue.  The prisons in the two provinces are overcrowded, the living conditions are not even fit for animals, the healthcare is hardly there, and the treatment is inhumane.  The issue of overcrowding is unreal.  One of the prisons in Mendoza is only meant to hold 600 prisoners, but it is holding 1,600 inmates.  The overcrowding means that there are less resources for the prisoners.  There are prisoners sleeping on the floor without mattresses, and they are crammed into little cells all together.  The prison in Buenos Aires is holding 24,166 inmates, but the capacity is 17,858 prisoners.  Another issue with the overcrowding is that there is not separation between the prisoners who have been sentenced and the ones who are awaiting sentencing.  There is also not separation between the types of convicts.  Everyone is just lumped together, and it is illegal for the system to have no structure like that.  There are not enough mattresses for prisoners, the water availability is low, and the sanitation is disgusting.  The living conditions are horrible because you cannot even differentiate between the bathrooms and the cells.  The sewage system is so bad that they live in sewage all the time.  This is really bad because this causes infection and has caused meningitis.  The healthcare is also really bad.  The only time the medical staff is ever called in is after someone dies.  There are no medical records, and the doctors stay out of the prisons.  The lack of medical attention has led to prisoners intentionally hurting themselves just to get some sort of medical attention.  Lastly, the treatment of the prisoners is inhumane.  Aside from having to deal with horrible conditions and no healthcare, they are treated harshly by the prison guards.  Between 1983 and 2009, 33 percent of deaths linked to police brutality occurred in prisons.  In 2004 and 2006, Human Right courts focused on the issues in Buenos Aires and Mendoza, but after inspection in 2007, nothing had changed.  In a Buenos Aires prison, only 2 of 40 violent deaths of inmates since 2000, have been investigated.  The guards beat prisoners, spit in their for or do not give them food, and they threaten the prisoners and their families lives.  All of these issues together make the whole prison system in the provinces inhumane and inhospitable.  Instead of rehabilitating the prisoners, it causes them to come out the system worse off and more violent.  Many of the prisoners have not even been tried and this really makes the issue of being released more devastating.  It is hard for inmates to leave the prison in good shape.  Little is still being done to fix the prison system in Argentina, but human rights groups are fighting hard for the issue to be fixed.